To amend Public Law 99–338 with respect to Kaweah Project permits.

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Bill ID: 119/hr/1044
Last Updated: September 7, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]

ID: V000129

Follow the money

The bill

To amend Public Law 99–338 with respect to Kaweah Project permits.

HR. 1044, 119th Congress — read as touching Electric Utilities.

The sponsor

Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$79,400 raised

30 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

70% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Environmental Protection Agency" section, p. 458-460 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

July 14, 2025

Introduced

Committee Review

Floor Action

Passed House

Senate Review

📍 Current Status

Next: Both chambers must agree on the same version of the bill.

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the 119th Congress. Let's dissect this farce and expose the underlying disease.

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** Ah, the noble goal of amending Public Law 99-338 to benefit... wait for it... Southern California Edison Company! Yes, because what America really needs is more favors for corporate giants. The bill's sponsors claim it's about "streamlining" permit renewals for the Kaweah Project, but we all know that's just a euphemism for "giving our buddies at SoCal Edison a sweet deal."

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** Oh boy, this is where it gets good. They're increasing the number of permit renewals from 3 to 7 and removing the pesky requirement that the permits be specifically tied to Southern California Edison Company. How convenient! It's like they're trying to create a regulatory vacuum for their corporate friends to exploit.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** Let's see... SoCal Edison gets a nice gift, while the rest of us get to enjoy the thrill of potentially increased energy costs and environmental degradation. The Kaweah Project's neighbors might also be affected, but who cares about them? They're just collateral damage in the grand game of corporate welfare.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a classic case of " regulatory capture," where politicians do the bidding of their corporate masters while pretending to serve the public interest. The increased permit renewals will likely lead to more environmental degradation, as SoCal Edison gets to operate with even less oversight. And let's not forget the potential for ratepayers to foot the bill for this corporate largesse.

Diagnosis: This bill is suffering from a bad case of "Corporateitis," a disease characterized by an excessive desire to please corporate donors at the expense of the public good. Symptoms include blatant favoritism, regulatory capture, and a complete disregard for environmental and social consequences.

Treatment: A healthy dose of skepticism, transparency, and accountability might help, but let's be real – this bill is just another symptom of a deeper disease: the corrupting influence of money in politics. Until we address that underlying issue, bills like HR 1044 will continue to infect our legislative process.

Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$79,400
18 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$59,600
Committees
$0
Individuals
$19,800

No PAC contributions found

1
SANTA YNEZ BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
2 transactions
$6,600
2
MORONGO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
2 transactions
$6,600
3
PECHANGA BAND OF LUISENO INDIANS
2 transactions
$6,600
4
BARONA BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
5 transactions
$6,500
5
AK-CHIN INDIAN COMMUNITY
2 transactions
$5,300
6
SANTA ROSA RANCHERIA
2 transactions
$5,000
7
SHINGLE SPRINGS BAND MIWOK INDIANS
2 transactions
$4,000
8
CHEROKEE NATION
1 transaction
$3,300
9
EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS
1 transaction
$3,300
10
THE CHICKASAW NATION
1 transaction
$3,300
11
MOORETOWN RANCHERIA
1 transaction
$3,300
12
SAN MANUEL BAND/MISSION INDIAN
3 transactions
$3,300
13
SYCUAN BAND OF KUMEYAAY NATION
1 transaction
$1,000
14
UNION VILLAGE
1 transaction
$1,000
15
RON CLARK FARMS
1 transaction
$500

No committee contributions found

1
EMMET, RICHARD
1 transaction
$6,600
2
GILLIAM, RICHARD
1 transaction
$6,600
3
SILVERMAN, JEFFREY
1 transaction
$6,600

Donor Network - Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

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Showing 56 nodes and 80 connections

Total contributions: $80

Top Donors - Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]

Showing top 18 donors by contribution amount

15 Orgs3 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 1 helped.

  • +Electric Utilitiesconfidence 0.80

    Section 1 amends Public Law 99-338 to allow for more renewals of permits related to the Kaweah Project, which could benefit Southern California Edison Company, an electric utility, by removing the company name from the permit restrictions.

Who funds the sponsor on these industries

For each industry this bill affects, here's what the sponsor (Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22])received from donors associated with that industry during the 2022–present cycles. Donations are not proof of intent — they are a record of who funds the people writing the law.

Industries this bill HELPS

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Environmental Protection Agency

Moderate
Vector: 58%
Pages: 458-460AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"HR 1044 focuses on increasing permit renewal flexibility and removing entity-specific restrictions, which aligns with the Project 2025 EPA goal of reforming air permitting to reduce burdens and avoid triggering new requirements when efficiency improves."

Key themes:permitting reformregulatory flexibilitystreamlining permits

— 426 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Conduct realistic cost assessments that reflect actual consumer experiences instead of the current unrealistic ones claiming that the program is virtually cost-free. Mobile Source Regulation by the Office of Transportation and Air Quality l Establish GHG car standards under Department of Transportation (DOT) leadership that properly consider cost, choice, safety, and national security. l Review the existing “ramp rate” for car standards to ensure that it is actually achievable. l Include life cycle emissions of electric vehicles and consider all of their environmental impacts. l Restore the position that California’s waiver applies only to California- specific issues like ground-level ozone, not global climate issues. l Ensure that other states can adopt California’s standards only for traditional/criteria pollutants, not greenhouse gases. l Stop the use of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to increase standards on airplanes. l Reconsider the Cleaner Trucks Initiative to balance the goal of driving down emissions without creating significant costs or complex burdens on the industry. Air Permitting Reforms for New Source Review (Pre-Construction Per- mits) and Title V (Operating Permits) l Develop reforms to ensure that when a facility improves efficiency within its production process, new permitting requirements are not triggered. l Restore the Trump EPA position on Once-In, Always-In (that major sources can convert to area sources when affiliated emissions standards are met). l Revisit permitting and enforcement assumptions that sources will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; this artificially inflates a source’s potential to emit (PTE), which can result in more stringent permit terms. — 427 — Environmental Protection Agency l Defend the position that petitions to object to Title V should not be used to second-guess previous state decisions. l Clarify the relationship between New Source Review and Title V to ensure that Title V is used only as intended by Congress. CAA Section 11123 l Restore the position that EPA cannot regulate a new pollutant from an already regulated source category without making predicate findings for that new pollutant. l Institute automatic withdrawal of any proposed rule that is not finalized within the statutorily prescribed one-year period. l Revise general implementing regulations for existing source regulatory authority under CAA § 111(d)24 to ensure that EPA gives full meaning to Congress’s direction, including source-specific application, and that the state planning program is flexible, federalist, and deferential to the states. CAA Section 112 (Hazardous Air Pollutants)25 l Unregulated point or non-point source (fugitive emissions) of an already regulated hazardous air pollutant do not require a Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT) standard. l Ensure that Section 112 regulations are harmonized with Section 111 regulations that apply to the same sector/sources. l Ensure that cost-benefit analysis is focused on a regulation’s targeted pollutant and separately identify ancillary or co-benefits. Radiation l Assess and update the agency’s radiation standards so that they align with those of other agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy, and Department of Transportation, as well as international standards. l Level-set past, misleading statements regarding radiological risk and reassess the Linear Non-Threshold standard.

Environmental Protection Agency

Weak
Vector: 61%
Pages: 458-460AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"HR 1044 focuses on increasing permit renewals and removing company-specific language for a hydroelectric project, which only tangentially relates to the EPA's air permitting reform goals in Project 2025 and does not address its core EPA regulatory, GHG, or NAAQS objectives."

Key themes:permit reformoperating permitsregulatory flexibility

— 425 — Environmental Protection Agency are statutorily required, and remove any regulatory differences between attainment and maintenance that are not explicitly required by law. l Streamline the process for state and local governments to demonstrate that their federally funded highway projects will not interfere with NAAQS attainment. l Adopt policies to prevent abuse of EPA’s CAA “error correction” authority.20 EPA historically has used this to coerce states into adopting its favored policies on pain of imposition of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). l Limit EPA’s reliance on CAA § 30121 general rulemaking authority to ensure that it is not abused to issue regulations for which EPA lacks substantive authority elsewhere in the statute. l If possible, return the standard-setting role to Congress. Climate Change l Remove the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for any source category that is not currently being regulated. The overall reporting program imposes significant burdens on small businesses and companies that are not being regulated. This is either a pointless burden or a sword-of- Damocles threat of future regulation, neither of which is appropriate. l Establish a system, with an appropriate deadline, to update the 2009 endangerment finding. l Establish a significant emissions rate (SER) for greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Regulating Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act22 l Repeal Biden Administration implementing regulations for the AIM Act that are unnecessarily stringent and costly. l Refrain from granting petitions from opportunistic manufacturers to add new restrictions that further skew the market toward costlier refrigerants and equipment. — 426 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Conduct realistic cost assessments that reflect actual consumer experiences instead of the current unrealistic ones claiming that the program is virtually cost-free. Mobile Source Regulation by the Office of Transportation and Air Quality l Establish GHG car standards under Department of Transportation (DOT) leadership that properly consider cost, choice, safety, and national security. l Review the existing “ramp rate” for car standards to ensure that it is actually achievable. l Include life cycle emissions of electric vehicles and consider all of their environmental impacts. l Restore the position that California’s waiver applies only to California- specific issues like ground-level ozone, not global climate issues. l Ensure that other states can adopt California’s standards only for traditional/criteria pollutants, not greenhouse gases. l Stop the use of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to increase standards on airplanes. l Reconsider the Cleaner Trucks Initiative to balance the goal of driving down emissions without creating significant costs or complex burdens on the industry. Air Permitting Reforms for New Source Review (Pre-Construction Per- mits) and Title V (Operating Permits) l Develop reforms to ensure that when a facility improves efficiency within its production process, new permitting requirements are not triggered. l Restore the Trump EPA position on Once-In, Always-In (that major sources can convert to area sources when affiliated emissions standards are met). l Revisit permitting and enforcement assumptions that sources will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; this artificially inflates a source’s potential to emit (PTE), which can result in more stringent permit terms.

Environmental Protection Agency

Weak
Vector: 59%
Pages: 458-460AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"HR 1044 seeks to streamline permit renewals for a specific hydroelectric project, which shares a general theme of reducing regulatory burden with Project 2025's EPA goals of streamlining processes and limiting agency overreach. However, the bill does not address any of the EPA-specific policies mentioned (e.g., NAAQS, GHG reporting, AIM Act regulations), resulting only a weak thematic overlap."

Key themes:regulatory streamliningpermit flexibilityreducing bureaucratic burden

— 425 — Environmental Protection Agency are statutorily required, and remove any regulatory differences between attainment and maintenance that are not explicitly required by law. l Streamline the process for state and local governments to demonstrate that their federally funded highway projects will not interfere with NAAQS attainment. l Adopt policies to prevent abuse of EPA’s CAA “error correction” authority.20 EPA historically has used this to coerce states into adopting its favored policies on pain of imposition of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). l Limit EPA’s reliance on CAA § 30121 general rulemaking authority to ensure that it is not abused to issue regulations for which EPA lacks substantive authority elsewhere in the statute. l If possible, return the standard-setting role to Congress. Climate Change l Remove the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for any source category that is not currently being regulated. The overall reporting program imposes significant burdens on small businesses and companies that are not being regulated. This is either a pointless burden or a sword-of- Damocles threat of future regulation, neither of which is appropriate. l Establish a system, with an appropriate deadline, to update the 2009 endangerment finding. l Establish a significant emissions rate (SER) for greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Regulating Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act22 l Repeal Biden Administration implementing regulations for the AIM Act that are unnecessarily stringent and costly. l Refrain from granting petitions from opportunistic manufacturers to add new restrictions that further skew the market toward costlier refrigerants and equipment.

Showing 3 of 5 policy matches

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.

Full Policy Text

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